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ON THE HOME FRONT

© Mary M. Alward

I would like to dedicate this article to the memory of Opal who was a "Rosie." This article also pays tribute to "Rosies" everywhere.

At the beginning of the war, men dominated the wartime work place. The extraction of these men from the labor force to service in the Armed Forces forced employers to hire women to take their place. Many times they were paid only half the wages that men had received for the same work. Women poured into the work force. In 1942, all women between twenty and twenty-four were required to register for wartime work. A training program was initiated and by the end of the year, 20,000 women graduated as metal workers, radio assemblers, welders and aircraft overhaulers. A trained aircraft worker received seventy-nine cents per hour, which was approximately the same pay as men received for the same job.

Women went to jobs that had been off limits before the war. They learned to drive and became truck drivers, drove garbage trucks and delivered coal. Women worked in munitions factories and became riveters. They bottled beer, drove streetcars, oiled engines at the Canadian Railroad yards in Toronto as well as making parts for Bren guns and ironing fabric onto the wings of planes. These women were filled with pride, not only because they were contributing to the war effort but because they suddenly realized that they could do any job required of them and do it well. When my mother was fourteen, she was granted “farm leave” from school. She not only worked on the family farm but also was sent to neighboring farms where she worked as a hired hand. She mowed hay, fed threshing machines, drove teams of horses, milked cattle and helped to slaughter and butcher meat. Besides all of these things, she was expected to work in the family garden, carry water to livestock and help with the housework. Many farm girls of the war era were required to do the same chores as the men as well as perform household tasks such as laundry, ironing, cooking and cleaning. They had none of the labor saving devices that are available now. They were lucky if they had electricity or indoor plumbing.

People poured into the cities of Canada in order to live close to their jobs. This movement created housing shortages, which made people both frustrated and desperate. The Wartime Prices and Trade Board took action and were successful in achieving some price stability. Rent control and special tribunals were needed to assist these people who were being charged exorbitant prices for living quarters.

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